Machine for the automatic packing of shuttles and such like tools into cases



P 1942- A. sco'rTl 97,253

- MACHINE FOR THE AUTOMATIC PACKING OF SHUTTLES AND SUCH LIKE TOOLS INTO CASES Filed Oct. 8, 1938 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 IJJII 1 lllllllllllll ANTo/v/o Scorn dl-lo-r'ne s.

P 29, 4 A. scoT'n MACHINE F0 THE AUTOMATIC PACKING SHUTTLES AN UCH LIK 00115 O C s Filed 8, l 8 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 By ne a u t-bor'ne yai Sept. 29, 1942.

v A. SCOTT] 97,253 MACHINE FOR THE AUTOMATIC PACKING OF SHUTTLES AND SUCH LIKE TOOLS INTO CASES 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Oct. 8, 1938' inn ATTORNEYS Patented Sept. 29, 1942 MACHINE FOR THE AUTOMATIC PACKING F SHUTTLES AND SUCH LIKE TOOLS INTO CASES.

Antonio Scotti, $01110, V cenza, Italy; vested in the. Ajien Property custodian ApplicationsOlctober 8, 1938, SerialNo. 234 ,011

Germany October 21, 1937 Claims- It has. heretofore been the. custom inspinning mills to pack by hand shuttles and similar tools.

for shipping purposes. This packaging is ,a very troublesome and tiring task. which absorbed a long time.

The object of this invention is to providea ma:

chine for packing shuttles automatically and:

speedily. This object is accomplished by in.- troducing the shuttles and similar tools into a conveying apparatus by meansof which they are.

carried to a collecting machine which .recipro-. cates in a vertical direction, and which, after having been lowered, opens automatically re-. leasing the row of shuttles contained therein. A reversing control device may be provided to cause the automatic return of the collecting ap.-. paratus to its original position.

Should every layer of shuttles to be packed consist of several rows arranged one. after another, it will be necessary toput the case on a truck or a sledge that will have to shift every time one row of shuttles has, been packed, the right number corresponding to their length.

The drawings illustrate how this invention iscarried out, viz:

Fig. 1 is a side view of the machine embodying the invention,

Fig. 2 is an end elevation of the collecting apparatus with its propelling organs in its superior position seen from one end, 7

Fig. 3 is an end elevation of the collecting apparatus in its lowered position,

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Figure 3 taken from the side,

Fig. 5 a perspective view of the device for moving the truck,

Fig. 6 is a detailed view of a mechanism for controlling the movement of the truck, and

Fig. '7 is a diagrammatic view of the electric circuit.

For the working of shaft I, upon which a conical coupling 2 is arranged an electric motor A which may be engaged or disengaged by hand by means of a switch is employed. A second electric motor B, operated by means of pressure buttons b, b, and a relay 2|, controls the upward and downward movement of the collecting apparatus 5. A third motor C drives an endless conveyor belt 3, as Well as the ejector device i and the truck l6. Motor C is controlled by means of a pressure button 0 through a relay I8 (see Fig. 7). It will be noticed from Figure 1 that the ejector device 4 is driven by the motor C through the intermediary of the'driving belts shown in dotted: lines and the rollersiil.

The shuttles are put by hand. between; tapetrai'lers (1- and pushedby theaction of ejector devicefl into' the collecting apparatus when the latter inits upper position, as shown in Figuse 1. The collecting apparatus is, fork shaped and isreciprocated' bymeans of a lifting pulley A dn' .a. verticaldireot-ion. The collecting appa-ra-tus is provided :at, eachside with gripping members 6 which are held in gripping position by means of the: helical-spring 8' which is mounted. on the pivot :pin for thegripping members. The, gripping members are; shown gripping shuttie Figures. 2' and when the grippin members abutagainst the bottom of the packing. case, the pressure will spread them apart and thus the load will be released. They are held inthei-r open posi ion by means of springaotuated pawls' ta. Below gathering apparatus Eflpfin on either sidwupon the machine frame, is arranged a continuous tape 9 which revolves round axle t5 and is supplied with abutting pieces- H] for disengaging a lever II. The former are arranged upon tape 9 at a dista ce cor espondin to h len t o a 1 load- Th fitting. is a an ed n su h ay so that on f: e abuttin pi ces 0 ll a ay find-itselfbefore one of these loads as, owing to their reliabili t e shutt s anno dise gage lever II. Thelever 14' acts like a latch during. the car g o ra ion and as seen as i becomes disengaged from: contact-with the abutt pieces Hi, t e ont o r d. I? ill a become disengaged. By means of a, lever l3 this control i rodprov k s co c u n 2 t tel into gear, more exactly through the action of a spring '4. o nse uentlv ce tra sha I is aus d o ev l -b I met r- A. a d h ug .1 action of v r to and the creek l tap "9 Will swing about axle it; to assume the position not own and wh ch w l lea e th c l ec n apparatnseli free below. At the same time tape 9 when turning downwards-continues its movement' by the action of a gear just far enough to a ry. the ex abut n iece be he e ing of the collecting apparatus 5. The next movem n of e ice I." and th t O t etil lev r H is diseng ged) QQGV S at intervals under the influence of the shuttles put into the collecting apparatus 5.

The disengagement of the rod I-2 cutsofi the relays 1 31 nd 1:! iron; the electric circuit. This results stoppage of the motor C, the conveyor belt a we as he jec o device! and the truck Hi. The immediate stop is obtained by means of an electro-magnetic brake 22. By the short rotation of control shaft I, as above described, and a cam l9, switch 29 of relay 2| is closed and motor B switched on so collecting apparatus is now pushed downwards under the thrust of a toothed rod 3| which, in turn, is actuated by the gear 31a. By lowering the collecting apparatus upon the bottom of case 24, or the load contained therein, it opens automatically by the spreading of the gripping members 6 under influence of pin, 6b. and the spring 5c, while the shuttles push up a double-bottomed plate 32. The open position of gripping members 6 is efiectuated by means of latches 6a. The lower portion of plate 32 is movable or yieldable,

in order to obtain a certain play should the,

thickness of the shuttles be different.

In their disengaged position gripping members 6 are held by means of latches 6a. In this way the rows of shuttles contained in the collecting apparatus are freed and discharged. Moreover by lowering the collecting apparatus, an organ supplied with a pressure pin 21 is shifted axially by means of a coupling operated by motor B within gear-box 26. Thus the latter organ, in contrast with the action of a spring, can be pushed against a piece-now still-of the coupling, owing to the arrangement of slanting surfaces or a wedge or by means of a screw (not shown in the drawings). Pressure pin 21 pushes a switch 23 bringing into play an inversion of the poles of motor B by means of a relay 2|. The motor will thus revolve in an opposite direction and raise the collecting apparatus 5 once more upwards to its former position. Shortly before reaching such a position motor B is automatically disengaged by means of an abutting piece 28 and a switch 29. At the same time controlling rod 12 is pushed back, while a projection 34 arranged on a toothed rod 3| strikes upon a roller 33 displacing the same, by the action of conicalshaped surfaces, towards the right side, in such a way that the projection at the end of controlling shaft l2 engages with that of lever ll. Thus one obtains once more the initial position illustrated in Fig. 1. Upon the falling into gear of pieces II and I2, the comically-shaped coupling 2 is again thrown into gear by shaft I3. Thereupon controlling shaft I is set into motion and provokes the return of continuous tape 9 in the position illustrated in full lines in Fig. 2. At the same time, by means of cam 35, switch 36 is closed and by this also the circuit of electric motor C then carrying-tape 3, ejector device 4 and the means for operating truck l6 and put into action once more.

In case of emergency the movement of the collecting' apparatus can be manually reversed by the actuation of the button switch b.

Box 24 is fitted upon truck 16 with suitable means. The truck runs with its wheels on guides 31 and bears on one side a support 38 on which are arranged some rollers 39 which serve as abutting pieces. The latter serve to control the movement of the truck. As soon as collecting apparatus 5 has returned to its upper position in the manner above described, upon the revolvingmovement thus produced, control shaft I within lever arms 4| and 42 is moved by means of a hoisting pulley 40. In this operation the prolongation 43 of lever 42 pushes spring-latch 44 aside. The latter frees lever 45 submitted to the action of'the spring 45a. At the very same time,

by means of a second projection 46 of lever 42, a-

driving organ 41 bearing a spring, kept still in this position by lever supplied with catch 48 (see Fig. 6), is pushed forward. Within a V- shaped notch of organ 41 a double lever 49 falls into gear and is shifted either to the right or to the left by the movement of the aforesaid organ, according to the position of a sliding block 50. The latter is pushed, in the final position of truck I6, by means of adjustable abutting pieces 5| of support 38 in both directions, so that one of the springs 52 is stretched while the other is loose. Owing to this stretched spring 52 the same will pull lever 49, by the movement of organ 41, into that side of the V-shaped notch whereon the stretched spring can be found.

According to the direction of its movement, double lever 49 willcause either one or the other of the two couplings 53 and 54 to fall into gear and shaft 55operated by motor C by means of a chain. movement 59can put into action shaft 58 through gears 56 or 51 in either direction. By means of a screw-controlled device 60 shaft 58 will cause a rope pulley 6| to revolve which results in the rope being wound and unwound, according to the direction of rotation, one of the two ends of rope 62, thus pulling the truck in the corresponding direction. This movement is governed by means of rollers 39 arranged upon their support 38 at distances corresponding to the length of the shuttles. As soon as the truck has covered such a distancethen the next roller 39 pushes .the sliding block supplied at its inferior end with conical surfaces in contrast with the action of a spring, upwards and falls into gear again with its projection 44 upon latch 45. In this way projection 48 is unhooked. Now it is possible to withdraw organ 41 by the action of the spring causing lever 49 to go back to its vertical position by means of the V-shaped notch in organ 41 (see Fig.5) provoking the unclutching of the truck control;

When the last roller but one 39 of truck 16 begins to move, either one or the other of the abutting pieces 63 arranged upon support 38, pushes down the corresponding button 64 provoking at the same time the lighting of a red or a yellow lamp. This luminous signal will tell the workman that one layer of shuttles in the packing case is complete. In consideration of the conical shape of the shuttles, in order to avoid empty spaces, the next layer must be arranged in a contrary way upon carrying tape 3.

At the end of the truck movement for a layer of shuttles, a spring latch 66 is raised by the abutting piece in such a way that the sliding block 50 upon engagement of abutting piece 5| with the abutting piece 51, is shifted and the lever 49 .is reversed under the tension of the spring 52. It will be noted from Fig. 5 that the abutment members 61 are mounted resiliently in the block 50 through the provision of springs 6111. Upon the shifting of control rod 59 a pin 68 pushes down appendix 69 of checking-lever 45 thereby disengaging lever 45 itself. This device has the scope of giving the truck at the end of every movement (to lay down a layer) still a slight supplementary push so that the packing case, independently from the position of the shuttles put down last, may reach the exact final position.

Lever 19, in case of need, allows one to remove by hand lever 45,. while a spring pressure pin 1| offers the possibility to operate by hand lever 49 for the coupling of the control means for the movement of the truck.

The present invention, besides the packing of the shuttles and such like tools, as above described, may be applied also for the packing of tubes and cartridges either full or empty of all types and dimensions, boxes of all types and dimensions, and so forth. For such a purpose it will suffice to suitably vary the pitch of the chain 3 (Fig. 1) and, where necessary, the opening of the grooved guides 6 in the gathering apparatus (Fig. 3).

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

l. A machine for the automatic packing of shuttles and similar objects in packing cases, said machine comprising a conveyor carrying the objects, a collecting box, an ejection device for pushing the objects from the conveyor into said collecting box, said collecting box having an endless band constituting the bottom of said collecting box; and rollers supporting said endless band; means moving said endless band longitudinally and operated by the pushing action of the objects introduced into the collecting box by the ejection device, a slidable truck supporting a packing case, and means connected with the said collecting box for depositing the objects from the collecting box into the packing case.

2. A machine for the automatic packing of shuttles and similar objects in packing cases, said machine comprising a conveyor carrying the objects, a collecting box, an ejection device for pushing the objects from the conveyor into said collecting box, said collecting box having an endless band constituting the bottom of said collecting box; and rollers supporting said endless band; means moving said endless band longitudinally and operated by the pushing action of the objects introduced into the collecting box by the ejection device, a member situated at a distance from said endless band and extending parallel thereto in a horizontal direction, and means operatively connecting said endless band with said member, and turning said endless band about said member when the collecting box is filled by a row of objects.

3. A machine for the automatic packing of shuttles and similar objects in packing cases, said machine comprising a conveyor carrying the objects, means connected with the conveyor for actuating the same, a collecting box, means connected with the collecting box for lowering the same, an ejection device for pushing the objects from the conveyor into said collecting box, means connected with said ejection device for actuating the same, said collecting box having an endless band constituting the bottom of said collecting box; means connected with said endless band for removing the same from said collecting box, two abutting pieces secured vertically to said endless band at a distance from one another, and means actuated by said abutting pieces to stop said conveyor-actuating means and said ejectoractuating means and to actuate said collecting box-lowering means and said endless band-removing means, said abutting pieces being operated by the pushing action of the objects introduced into said collecting box by the ejection device and actuating the stopping means when the col lecting box is filled with a row of objects.

4. A machine for the automatic packing of shuttles and similar objects in packing cases, said machine comprising a conveyor carrying the objects, means connected with the conveyor for actuating the same, a collecting box, means connected with the collecting box for lowering the same, an ejection device for pushing the objects from the conveyor into said collecting box, means connected with said ejection device for actuating the same, said collecting box having an endless band constituting the bottom of said collecting box; means connected with said endless band for removing the same from said collecting box and for returning it back to said collecting box, means connected with said endless band-removing means for moving said endless band longitudinally, two abutting pieces secured vertically to said endless band at a distance from one another, and means actuated by said abutting pieces to stop said conveyor-actuating means and said ejector-actuating means and to actuate said collecting box-lowering means and said endless band-removing means, said abutting pieces being operated by the pushing action of the objects introduced into said collecting box by the ejection device and actuating the stopping means when the collecting box is filled with a row of objects.

5. A machine for the automatic packing of shuttles and similar objects in packing cases, said machine comprising a conveyor carrying the objects, a collecting box, an ejection device for pushing the objects from the conveyor into said collecting box, said collecting box having an endless band constituting the bottom of said collecting box, and a pair of oppositely disposed, pivoted gripping members adapted to engage a shuttle; means moving said endless band longitudinally and operated by the pushing action of the objects introduced into the collecting box by the ejection device, means connected with said collecting box for lowering the same to deposit the objects contained therein into a packing case and for raising the collecting box, the

objects being held in position by the pressure of said gripping members when said endless band is moved longitudinally and means connected with said gripping members for maintaining them in an open position while said collecting box is moved downwardly to deposit the objects into said packing case and for closing said gripping members when said collecting box is moved into its uppermost initial position.

ANTONIO SCO'I'II. 

